1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dental appliance and, in particular, to a reinforced joint which allows more accurate fitting and installation of the dental appliance by the attending dentist.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of dental prosthetics, there are two (2) major types of dental implant prosthetics which have gained acceptance. The first, commonly known as the over denture, provides for a support structure to be implanted into the alveolar bone, which support structure extends above the gum line and permits the patient to snap-fit the denture into place. This type of construction permits the patient to remove the denture himself and clean the denture and the gum area. The drawback of an over denture is that it does not normally provide sufficient stability under all eating or chewing conditions.
The second type of prosthesis in wide use is that of the fixed prosthesis. Again, support structure is anchored into the alveolar bone, the support structure extending above the gum line and the prosthesis being permanently secured through the support structure into the bone. This type of denture normally provides a more stable denture for the patient, but aesthetic and hygiene problems arise in that the denture can only be removed by a dentist to permit cleaning of the area under the prosthesis and proximate to the support structure. Applicant has improved upon these two types of prosthetics with his fixed removable dental implant system as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,016 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,017 which detail the manner in which a fixed removable implant can be fabricated from an electro discharge method (hereinafter EDM).
Applicant has further developed a soldering joint to be used in conjunction with fabricated dental appliances which allows for cooperation between the dental laboratory and the attending dentist in fitting the dental appliance, whether it be a partial bridge or full prosthetic, to the attachment elements. Applicant's reinforced soldering joint permits the attending dentist to accurately adjust the seating of a portion of the dental appliance on each of the attachment elements and to cooperatively secure each segment of the dental appliance to the adjacent segment of the dental appliance which is attached to a similar attachment means. The attending dentist would secure the relationship of the segmented pieces of the dental appliance with a cold set acrylic or other acceptable adhesive in cooperation with diverging recesses formed in adjacent segments of the dental appliance. The diverging recesses having a complimentary plug positioned therein and temporarily secured by the adhesive. The fitted appliance would then be returned to the laboratory where the cold set acrylic or other suitable adhesive would be replaced with a permanent plug joint and solder which would permanently secure the segments of the dental appliance together in a configuration, the accuracy of which, complimentary to the attachment means would be greatly improved over the prior art.